July 2012 - June 2015

The Science of Intellectual Humility

Grant ID

15628

Project Leader(s)

Justin Barrett

Grantee(s)

Fuller Theological Seminary

Grant Amount

$5,400,161

Funding area

Philosophy and Theology

Department

Philosophy and Theology

Intellectual humility (IH), characterized by love of learning and openness to new discoveries and insights, is critical for learning and civil engagement, but what promotes its development and hinders its expression? This project includes a grant competition that has awarded $3.7 million for 18 research projects. Awardees include developmental and social psychologists, and experimental philosophers from leading institutions. Projects include: investigating effective ways to measure IH; understanding how IH might operate given the presence of cognitive biases and searching for practical ways to mitigate such biases and thereby promote it; examining the influence of situations on its promotion or suppression, including its prevalence (or lack) of in specific situations (political polarization, wrongful convictions) and in certain people (e.g. religious leaders, criminal prosecutors); and investigating its development in children, such as how children seek new knowledge and how children's gradual improvement in meta-cognition impacts its development. It is our hope that these projects help us better understand this crucial epistemic virtue and give us practical ways to promote it.